Mead Johnson Prevails In 1st Infant Formula MDL Trial

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal jury sided with Mead Johnson on Monday in a lawsuit claiming its infant formula caused a premature baby boy to develop a fatal intestinal disease, rejecting his mother's claims that the company should be held liable for making a defective product and failing to adequately warn doctors of the risks associated with it.

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Hospital Ex-Exec Pleads Not Guilty To $239M Testing Fraud

By Lauraann Wood

A former Chicago hospital executive who stopped fighting extradition to face fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and several other U.S. criminal charges pled not guilty Monday to prosecutors' accusation that he stole more than $239 million in a COVID-19 testing fraud scheme.

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Ill. Panel Says E-Monitoring Law Doesn't Bar Pretrial Release

By Parker Quinlan

An Illinois state appeals court has vacated a trial court's decision to keep a teenage murder defendant incarcerated before trial, saying a state law forbidding electronic home monitoring for people convicted of serious crimes does not apply to those released on bond pending trial.

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Feds Say New USPS Mail-In Ballot Rule Isn't A 'Takeover'

By Julie Manganis

A new U.S. Postal Service rule compelling states to submit voters' names to the federal government and redesign envelopes in order to have mail-in ballots delivered in November imposes "modest" requirements and is not a "federal takeover of elections," the Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal judge in a weekend filing.

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Feds' Crackdown Targets Commercial Trucking Fraud

By Linda Chiem

The Trump administration said Monday it is immediately shutting down 110 commercial driver's license schools for certifying truck drivers who can't read or speak English, and pledged to aggressively prosecute accused "fraudsters" who knowingly put untrained or unskilled truck drivers on American roads.

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FTC, AGs Say Amazon Pocketed $20B With Fraudulent Auctions

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan coalition of 22 states sued Amazon Monday, alleging it secretly overcharged advertising customers more than $20 billion by manipulating how it set prices for ads on its e-commerce website.

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States Ask Fed. Circ. To Revive Their Temporary Tariff Claims

By Jack McLoone

Two dozen states pushed the Federal Circuit on Monday to revive their specific claims against now-expired temporary tariffs while simultaneously pushing the panel to otherwise back the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling that the tariffs were illegal.

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Judge Trims Claims In Insurance Software Trade Secret Case

By Elliot Weld

A federal judge in Chicago on Monday issued a mixed ruling in a case brought by a company that makes insurance agency management software against a rival that it claims created a fake insurance company to steal trade secrets, dismissing some claims but preserving others for trade secret misappropriation and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

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Insurer Spoliation Ruling Flags Continuing Duty To Preserve

An Illinois federal court’s recent decision to impose spoliation sanctions on the insurer in H.D. Smith v. Cincinnati Insurance provides practical guidance for navigating long-tail coverage litigation, underscoring the importance of evaluating preservation obligations in light of the full life cycle of a dispute, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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How Economic Analysis Informs Consumer Lending Disputes

A new wave of consumer lending class actions makes clear that economic analysis of control, pricing, repayment risk and borrower behavior will be central to litigation involving fintech platforms, earned wage access products and online lending models as regulatory enforcement recedes, say economists at The Brattle Group.

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Ex-Clifford Chance Attys Fight Bid To Toss Clawback Suit

By Ryan Boysen

The two partners facing a $6 million clawback demand by Clifford Chance LLP have again asked a federal judge to decide whether English or New York law should govern the arbitration, claiming the firm's partnership agreement is unclear.

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How Did Litigants Fare In Judge Albright's 55 Patent Trials?

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright oversaw more than 50 patent trials between his 2018 arrival on the bench and planned Monday departure, and in a surprise for many attorneys, there was a near-even split between victories for patent owners and accused infringers.

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New Report Rings Alarm On Threats To Judicial Independence

By Jack Karp

Verbal attacks on judges, disinformation about the courts and the defiance of court orders are undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and significantly affecting individual judges' ability to do their jobs, a report out Monday says.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: NYT, J&J, Azerbaijan

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 details a jury verdict against The New York Times in a suit involving its reporting on a shooting in Alabama, and highlights a judge's decision to spare researchers from a suit by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary over their talc research.

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House Passes Bill To Curb Secret Prosecutor Orders

By Courtney Bublé

The House passed a bipartisan bill via voice vote Monday afternoon to add transparency to prosecutors' use of nondisclosure orders for telephone service providers.

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Brief

House Passes Bill Adding Texas, California Court Sites

By Courtney Bublé

The House voted 378-10 on Monday evening to expand access to federal courts in Texas and California, the two most populous states in the nation.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week saw disputes over a $200 million federal grant, a $1.7 billion software take-private deal, the ouster of Better.com founder Vishal Garg and a proposed $4 million settlement stemming from an electric vehicle company's SPAC merger.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: MassBar, Kirkland, Troutman

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' legal landscape saw a sizzling summer finish, with several major firms making hires. Kirkland added a veteran white collar defense attorney, Troutman bolstered its real estate team and Day Pitney nabbed an experienced corporate attorney.

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